Saturday, November 12, 2011

What did he say: We are used to arranging flowers in the order of shin, soe and hikae. Try it in a different way, for example, arranging hikae first. Maybe you'll find out that shin and soe (sometimes) are not necessary after all. You may feel uncomfortable at first, but worth trying.

After his lecture, I cut shin and soe in my arrangement and placed them back into container as jushi. The overall view of my arrangement became tighter, or in a more unified way.

Friday, November 4, 2011

After I arranged rose hip vines, I found that bulrush are not strong enough to compete with the curve lines if I try to mix them together. So I put bulrush together upright then bend them to the height of rose hip. I arranged bulrush pretty evenly all around.critic: grouping bulrush not so evenly. That way, the (negative) space and rhythm are achieved.

(2) Ross, acacia, cock's comb, free styleAfter saw the Sogetsu Exhibition at Nihonbashi Takashimaya Department Store, he's really inspired. The teacher's critic was very gentle and encouraging. This is Ross' very first ikebana.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Lisa is a talented floral designer (western). She's coming to the class to try out ikebana. She brought her own container. So I gave her materials to work with--Ilex berry orange (mini persimmons) and Fuji mums. The middle one was her original arrangement. She beautifully placed mums and berries. Unfortunately, from ikebana point of view, mums and berries are in the same value. So, I asked her which one, mums or berries, are more important to her. It's hard to decide, because both are beautiful. Instead, I showed her 2 scenarios. If she want to show mums, she needed to shorten the berry branches (as in top photo). If she want to emphasize berries, she need to shorten the mums. (bottom photo)

A beautiful vertical arrangement shows the fall color. The placement of the container was originally placed side way. I re-positioned the container so it also shows the narrow width to accentuate the vertical lines.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Happen to see persimmons at Mayesh Wholesale Florist. Though the temperature in Phoenix still reaches to 103F (about 39C) today, it's fall in the rest of the country. Bought a bunch, did 3 arrangements.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Found silver tree branches in Mayesh Wholesale Florist. The velvety silky shimmering leaves attracted me. To emphasize the uniqueness of the silver tree, I only use queen ann's lace to support and soften the arrangement.
Two attempts are made, one with upright, the other with horizontal.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Friday, August 19, 2011

Summertime, and the living is "lazy."
When I saw three coconuts on sale in a grocery store, they immediately got my attention. I love cool coconut milk. More important, I wanted the coconut shells for my ikebana study. So, when I got home, I carefully poke holes and put straw in, so I can suck the coconut milk and keep the shell intact.
My first attempt to use the shells is to use them as containers. Here is the result.